Internet-based gaming is one of the hottest topics in the video game industry at the moment, with multiplayer contests, paid-for downloads and premium content seen as sure-fire ways of raising revenue and attracting users.
Microsoft's online gaming service, called Xbox Live, is due to launch this year. However, users without access to a broadband connection will not be able to take advantage of it, according to Kate Wilson, Microsoft's European online business development manager for the Xbox.
Wilson told the Broad Horizons Broadband Symposium in the UK this week that the Xbox Live project was a fusion of the Xbox console and broadband.
"There's not a games company that isn't looking at online gaming, and most are looking at broadband. We at Microsoft aren't looking at narrowband gaming at all," Wilson said.
Microsoft is convinced that broadband will be ubiquitous within a few years.
"Broadband is not a mass-market technology now, and it probably won't be within two years. We're working on a prediction of what broadband will be in three to five years," said Wilson.
In the short term, Microsoft's position isn't good news for Xbox owners who can't get broadband because their local telephone exchange isn't ADSL-enabled and their local area isn't part of a cable franchise.
Microsoft could provide a boost to broadband rollout, though. Recent BT Wholesale price cuts have spurred demand for broadband, but there is still very little compelling broadband content that could entice more people to upgrade.
Xbox Live could prove to be one of the broadband killer applications, and make it economically viable for telecoms firms to make broadband available to more consumers.
More like, XBox Online Gaming will flop because not enough people are prepared to pay the larger amounts for ADSL service, then pay usage charges on top of that.